Submitted by Anonymous on Sun, 03/25/2012 - 08:47
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Carbon Balance in Warming and Drying Tundra 2012

Hi John,

Your expedition looks really well organized and orchestrated. Could you tell me how many people you have in your team and what roles they play? For example, besides yourself and the other researchers, do you have a videographer or IT person in the field with you? Also, what kind of team keeps the virtual base camp (I assume it's run in Fairbanks, Alaska), running and coordinating with you? I imagine an IT person or project manager or two?

I look forward to your reply!

Mat University of Texas at Austin

Sun, 03/25/2012 - 09:39

John Wood

Hello and thanks for the observations. Right now in the field we have two of us, a graduate student and a middle school teacher. I am the teacher. We are here collecting winter warming data from the study site under the direction of Dr. Natali from the University of Florida. A larger crew of researchers will be showing up in April to facilitate the transition from winter operations to summer.PolarTREC is the organization that coordinates teachers with research projects in both polar regions. They are the folks that maintain the website and make it possible for teachers to experience field science and to communicate the experience back to classrooms. The PolarTREC team is much larger with IT people, managers and so on, and they are based in Fairbanks. PoarTREC is run through ARCUS (Arctic Research Consortium of the United States) which is funded by the National Science Foundation.
If you know any teachers or students in your areas, please spread the word! I hope that helps. Let me know if there is anything else I can talk about for you.
Cheers,
John

Mon, 03/26/2012 - 18:41

Anonymous

Thanks John for taking the time to explain the whole project. I'm presenting PolarTREC to my class this week. We're studying a kind of problem-based learning model called Adventure Learning which has many similarities to PolarTREC's approach to using technology to create educational opportunities. It focuses primarily on creating the classroom experience, while your program seems to focus on professional development, STEM, and also the classroom experience. I wish I had PolarTREC when I was in middle school!Good luck on your expedition!
Mat

Mon, 03/26/2012 - 18:48

John Wood

Thanks for the good word. If your students write in have them mention they are from your class or form the university. It helps us keep track of who we are reaching.If there is something like a demonstration or experiment we can do to support your efforts, don't hesitate to ask.
Cheers,
John

Wed, 03/28/2012 - 06:16

Anonymous

That's great. One of my teammates, Lance, contacted you about Adventure Learning on this board yesterday. We're both studying Learning Technologies at University of Texas at Austin, and PolarTREC came up as a great educational model to take a look at. I happen to agree! Sorry to have questions coming at you from different directions, but you've helped us a lot.
Thanks again,
Mat

Wed, 03/28/2012 - 08:17

John Wood

Whatever we can do the help. Part of my job here is outreach, your involvement and questions only help us.Thanks,
John